Press Release

17.02.2012

Viking Line’s new vessel, with the working name NB 1376, will be called the M/S Viking Grace. The vessel, which begins service in January 2013 on the Turku (Finland) – Åland Islands (Finland) – Stockholm (Sweden) route, will officially receive its name during a christening ceremony that will take place at the time it begins service. The planning process has placed great importance on new innovative passenger experiences related to product and service concepts, as well as fresh design thinking and environmentally friendly solutions.

SUCCESSFUL NAMING COMPETITION

An interactive naming competition was organized during the period December 1, 2011 to January 15, 2012 on the vessel’s own website, www.nb1376.com. The competition certainly stimulated people’s creativity: more than 23,000 suggested names were sent in, of which more than 9,900 were unique. A large proportion of these names ended with “–lla”, like the names of many of Viking’s earlier-built vessels. Another very popular suggestion was Victoria. After various elimination rounds, three names remained in the final round. From these, the name M/S Viking Grace was then selected.

“The jury chose the name M/S Viking Grace, which in our view stands for style, design and atmosphere. A voyage on the M/S Viking Grace will provide our guests with enjoyable, eventful experiences in a sober and elegant environment. Because the M/S Viking Grace will operate in the beautiful, sensitive archipelago, the environmentally friendly solutions of the future have been incorporated into in its entire concept,” says Mikael Backman, President and CEO.
The winning name was suggested by Biggi Korhonen of Helsinki, Finland. Her prize will be participation in the vessel’s maiden voyage, accompanied by ten friends.

The ferry will go into ordinary traffic on January 15 2013. A Maiden Voyage, that also will be sold to the public, is planned for January the 13th. The selling of this unique All Inclusive cruise will start later this year.

About Viking Line

In 1959 first genuine Baltic Sea car ferry, the S/S Viking, was placed in traffic between the Finnish mainland, the Åland Islands and Sweden. This was the first phase of an almost revolutionary expansion in ferry communications. More than 50 vessels have sailed in the fleets of the Viking Ship companies, and over 175 million passengers have travelled with the company’s vessels since the start. Today Viking Line has seven vessels in traffic on the Baltic Sea serving more than 6,4 million passengers per year. Operations include passenger services, recreation and cargo carrier services. The number of employees is approximately 3,000. The company was listed on Helsinki Stock exchange in 1995.